Experimental Investigation on Flow Patterns and Frictional Pressure Drop of Downward Air-Water Two-Phase Flow in Vertical Pipes

Abstract

A large amount of air need be transported into the reservoir in the deep stratum to supply oxygen to some microbes in Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery (MEOR). Air-water two-phase flows downward along vertical pipeline during the air transportation. Base on the experiment data described in this paper, the characteristics of air-water two phase flow patterns were investigated. The flow pattern map of air-water two phase flows in the pipe with inner diameter of 65 mm was drawn, criterions of flow pattern transition were discussed, and the dynamic signals of the pressure and the differential pressure of the two phase flow were recorded to characterize the three basic flow regimes indirectly. The frictional pressure drop of downward flow in vertical pipe must not be disregarded contrast with upward two phase flow in the vertical pipe because the buoyancy must be overcame when the gas flows downward along pipe, and there would be a maximum value of frictional when the flow pattern translated from slug flow to churn flow.